Rudy Balking At A Libby Pardon?
Posted: Thursday, July 05, 2007 8:35 PM by Chuck Todd
From NBC's Carrie Dann
After an event in Daytona Beach today, Rudy Giuliani was asked to comment on the president's commutation of Scooter Libby's sentence. Giuliani repeated that the president made "the right decision" - the same sentiment he'd voiced earlier this week in a paper statement. He said that "commutation was actually the right balance" to counter the "blatantly excessive" 30 month sentence issued by the court in June. But when pressed as to whether Bush should grant a full pardon, however, the mayor balked. "I don't know the case in enough depth to tell you whether that's the right thing to do or not," he said, adding that he will be interested to see how the appellate court rules.
Of interest: Giuliani pointed to his comments on the same subject during CNN's GOP debate on 6/5. During that debate, which took place on the day that Libby's sentence was handed down, Giuliani did not definitively answer "yes" when asked if Libby should be pardoned, but he did not lean too far away from the possibility either. "I think what the judge did today argues more in favor of a pardon," he told Wolf Blitzer, "because this is excessive punishment."